


Always Up or Down (Never Down and Out)

by Nenagh24 (EverFascinated)



Category: Back to the Future: The Game
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, M/M, Pre-Slash, teens making poor decisions due to mutual undisclosed crushes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24915238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverFascinated/pseuds/Nenagh24
Summary: Nothing seems to ever go as planned when Marty visits Emmett, but Marty always finds a reason or three to make the trip back anyway.
Relationships: Emmett "Doc" Brown/Marty McFly
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Always Up or Down (Never Down and Out)

Doc was going to kill him.

It was a fact at this point and no amount of time travel would change it. The only thing still up in the air was how old Emmett would be when he committed homicide.

The situation was ironic in more ways than one, though Marty was too busy quietly panicking to realize it at the time, as the event had literally and metaphorically snowballed.

He was just going to take the DeLorean for a little spin, you know go out on the town or see a movie or something, but he wouldn’t really have enough time to really do anything if he stayed current and Doc lectured endlessly on the perils of crossing ones own timeline, so heading back just an hour or so for a joyride was deemed ‘too dangerous’.

Thinking of Doc’s many examples of what not to do (many of which Marty had witnessed first hand), Marty soon found his mind wandering to Emmett as it did so often these days. He knew that nothing could come of it and he tried not to linger on things that could possibly make the universe implode because those thoughts invariably let to his brain wanting to do the same, but sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder.

What if he and Doc were the same age? Not just using time travel, where your own or others’ lives were forfeit if you made the wrong off-hand comment, but honest-to-God same age? What if he could just tell Emmett everything like he could with Doc? What if…

The ‘What if’s would kill him if Marty let them, but it did give him an idea of where to go. Or, at least, when.

“I’d love to see Emmett again,” he said, lacking the enthusiasm of just a few short hours ago. “We could go explore the town or go to that ‘new’ space exhibit at the museum a couple cities over.”

Marty was a historian by necessity and a learner of science via osmosis, but even though his dream was to be in a rock band he’d never done as much headbanging as he was now.

It was the rhythmic thump of Marty’s head meeting the steering wheel that caught Emmett’s attention. The young scientist gave an exasperated sigh, shaking his head at Marty’s antics.

“It has been proven that repeated blunt trauma causes brain damage, Marty.” He slipped a hand between Marty’s head and the steering wheel to stop the self-inflicted abuse. If Emmett saw Marty’s eyes widen a bit too much or felt him lean ever so slightly into his hand, he gave no indication. “I warned you before we set out that this vehicle needed more than a few tuneups to get us anywhere, but you insisted on using it.”

Turning to face Emmett, Marty surveyed the old car once again (ignoring the tingle just under his skin as the movement brushed Emmett’s fingers along his face and stuffing the little voice in his head that hypothesized that the other did it on purpose into a locked room with the label ‘NOT NOW, PROBABLY NEVER’ on it).

This was not the second, nor the third part of what had gone wrong and it certainly wasn’t the last. Talking Emmett into driving down to the museum was easy, however, it was only with some fast talking that Marty convinced Emmett that he didn’t have a car (he hadn’t even realized so much could be scientifically deduced just from situational evidence) but that he could drive one if one was made available.

He wasn’t alone on this snowball’s race down the mountain it seemed, as Emmett was the one to point out the old car he’d gotten from the junkyard for experiments. Marty jumped on the chance to try and drive a ‘classic’ car and brushed off Emmett’s insistence that it was barely functional.

And now they were here.

In the middle of nowhere. In an old rust-bucket. In the middle of a snowstorm.

Marty reached down and tried to start the engine one last time just for kicks and groaned when the engine didn’t even sputter.

Eyes closed in frustration, Marty jumped as a hand covered his. Emmett pulled on his hand and placed a pair of wooly gloves in it before pulling pair over his own hands.

“No use just sitting here and freezing to death.” Emmett pushed on the passenger side door only for it to blow shut again immediately. “This is no weather to be working on a car, but I know we just passed a diner a quarter mile back that we can wait in until it clears.”

Pulling on the gloves, Marty watched the other struggle with the door before grabbing the keys and pulling on Emmett’s arm.

“Come on, we can get out this easier this way.” A twist of the handle and a sharp shove with his shoulder had the driver’s door open in no time. Marty hunched by the door and used it to block the harsher gusts as Emmett slid over to join him.

It took three tries to fit the key into the lock and secure the car, but they were soon on their way to the diner. A harsh gust nearly blew Emmett off his feet before Marty could steady him. After another few similar incidents, they both found themselves upended as a sharp burst of air slid them right off the patch of black ice they’d been working their way across.

Emmett landed on top of Marty who found himself face down in a snowdrift next to the road. Hands pressed against his back as Emmett righted himself from where he’d been laying across it on his side.

“Marty?” There was no movement from the face down teen and Emmett voice finally gained an edge of panic. “Marty!”

Trying to catch his breath trumped his freezing nose, but a hand shaking his shoulder made Marty realize just how bad it must have looked. Raising a hand slightly to try and wave off the concern, the guitarist finally moved to leaver himself out of the snow.

“’m fine.” He shook his head to remove most of the snow that still clung to his face and hair. “A little colder and a lot more wet, but fine.”

“Don’t scare me like that!”

Marty blinked as the other took a little time to brush the rest of the clumped snow from his hair before standing and offering Emmett his hand. He helped the other up but never let go of his hand.

“It’s easier to keep from falling if we’re already leaning on each other,” he defended himself without prompt.

He received a nod, but Emmett pulled his scarf up over his nose so it made it harder to guess what he was thinking. Though the way Emmett readjusted their grip to link their arms together as well was answer enough really.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, but the only uncomfortable part was the weather itself.

**Author's Note:**

> Remembered that Mammett was a thing and found that the Wayback Machine saved this drabble from 2015 even after all of my own poor decisions


End file.
